LIFE ONLY IN CHRIST

"There is no death;What seems so is transition."

The late Prof. Alfred Russel Wallace, the English scientist, said of Spiritualism:—

"It demonstrates, as completely as the fact can be demonstrated, that the so-called dead are still alive."—"On Miracles and Modern Spiritualism" (London, 1875), p. 212.

In the very first book of the Bible is a similar claim: "Ye shall not surely die." Gen. 3:4.

But this declaration, while recorded in the Scriptures, is not the word of God. The Lord had declared to man that disobedience would bring death. But Satan, as the tempter in Eden, caused the woman to doubt the word of God: "Theserpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die." And the woman believed the tempter rather than God, and so sinned against the Creator.

Having tempted man to disobedience, so bringing death into the world, what more natural, in the course of deception, than to endeavor to persuade the human family that, after all, there is no death; that what appears so is only an introduction to fuller life and activity? "Ye shall not surely die."

PHARAOH'S SORCERERS COUNTERFEITING THE WORK OF GOD "Now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments." Ex. 7:11.PHARAOH'S SORCERERS COUNTERFEITING THE WORK OF GOD"Now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments." Ex. 7:11.

As mankind departed from right and lost the knowledge of God, dead heroes were deified as gods, and much of the pagan worship consisted in sacrifices to the spirits of the dead, supposed to be living still and concerned with affairs in the land of the living. When Israel fell away from God and joined the Moabites in the worship of Baal-peor, the record says of the nature of the service:

"They joined themselves also unto Baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead." "Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils." Ps. 106:28, 37.

Instead of dealing with the spirits of the dead, the idolatrous worshipers were really putting themselves in direct touch with the agencies of Satan, the fallen angels.

This explains the severity of the divine warnings against the ancient practice of necromancy, or mediumship. The Lord said:

"Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God." Lev. 19:31.

DEMONISM IN THE DAYS OF CHRIST "He said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit." Mark 5:8.DEMONISM IN THE DAYS OF CHRIST"He said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit." Mark 5:8.

"When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter withfamiliar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord." Deut. 18:9-12.

The ancient séance, where the living sought unto the dead for knowledge, was denounced by the prophet Isaiah:

"When they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits and unto the wizards, that chirp and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? on behalf of the living should they seek unto the dead?" Isa. 8:19, A.R.V.

"To the law and to the testimony!" the prophet cries. To seek unto the dead for knowledge is to turn from the law and the testimony, and to take the counsel of the direct agencies of Satan, the great deceiver.

What Spiritualism is may best be understood by the prophetic warnings concerning the revival of this great deception in the last days. The apostle spoke of these days as a time when seducing spirits would lead many away from the faith:

"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils." 1 Tim. 4:1.

This deceptive working is an indication of the nearness of Christ's second coming:

"Whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders." 2 Thess. 2:9, A.R.V.

True to the sure word, now that the last days have come, there has arisen the movement of modern Spiritualism, with its signs and wonders, purporting to be wrought by the spirits of the dead. Professor Wallace says:

"Modern Spiritualism dates from March, 1848; it being then that, for the first time, intelligent communications were held with the unknown cause of the mysterious knockings and other sounds similar to those which had disturbed the Mompesson and Wesley families in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries."—"On Miracles and Modern Spiritualism" (London, 1875), p. 146.

It was in Hydeville, N.Y., in the family of Mr. Fox, that the modern cult originated, it being found that by mysterious but clear sounds of knocking, unseen intelligences were able to communicate answers to questions asked. The rapidity of the spread of the great deception was remarkable. One of the Fox sisters, Mrs. A. Leah Underhill, wrote:

"Since that day, starting from a small country village of western New York, Spiritualism has made its way—against tremendous obstacles and resistance, but under an impulse and a guidance from higher spheres—round the civilized globe. Starting from three sisters, two of them children, and the eldest a little beyond that age,... its ranks of believers, privately or publicly avowed, have grown within thirty-six years to millions."—"The Missing Link in Modern Spiritualism," Introduction.

Many at the time thought, as have many since, that the "rappings" with which the manifestations began were caused by some trickery on the part of the Fox sisters, but men of unimpeachable standing and intelligence certified to the contrary. Horace Greeley, famous editor of the New YorkTribune, wrote in his paper that the sisters had visited him in his home and courted the fullest investigation as to "the alleged manifestations from the spirit world." As the result of his observations, he wrote:

"Whatever may be the origin or the cause of the 'rappings,' the ladies in whose presence they occur do not make them. We tested this thoroughly and to our entire satisfaction."—Id., pp. 160, 161.

It was no mere sleight of hand that launched this cult upon the world as the last days came. Beyond all the physical manifestations, the religious idea in Spiritualism has leavened the religious thought of millions. No one can deny that the basic idea is the one that the serpent promulgated in Eden, "Ye shall not surely die."

Mrs. Emma Hardinge Britten, another of the Fox sisters, says of the discovery of 1848:

"On the night of the thirty-first of March, 1848, we found beyond a shadow of a doubt or peradventure, that death had no power over the spirit.... In a word, we found our so-called dead were all living."—"Nineteenth Century Miracles" (Manchester, England), p. 554.

THE SALEM WITCHCRAFT One of the historical settings of Spiritualism. A poor woman accused by her neighbors of practicing witchcraft.THE SALEM WITCHCRAFTOne of the historical settings of Spiritualism. A poor woman accused by her neighbors of practicing witchcraft.

Now the Scriptures teach plainly what these agencies in Spiritualism are not, and what they are.

They are not the spirits of the dead communicating messages to the living.

In one of the earliest written portions of Holy Scripture, the Lord declared plainly that the dead have no knowledge of the living:

"He passeth: Thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away. His sons come to honor, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them." Job 14:20, 21.

The dead have no part in any communications with the living on earth:

"Neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun." Eccl. 9:6

Already we have told what they are in quoting the warnings of prophecy concerning the special deceptions of Satan in the last days.

"The working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders." 2 Thess. 2:9.

"Seducing spirits." 1 Tim. 4:1.

And as they were shown to the prophet John in a vision of the very end, he declared:

"They are the spirits of devils, working miracles." Rev. 16:14.

These are the agencies through which come the supernatural manifestations of Spiritualism. It is a terrible deception that leads men and women to seek to satanic agencies, supposing that they are communicating with the spirits of their dead friends. Satan and his angels can readily simulate the personality of the dead, and so deceive those who disobey God in seeking to the dead for knowledge.

That the marvels of Spiritualism would increase as the end nears, was plainly taught by our Saviour in describing the workings of Satan just before the second advent. He left us the warning:

"Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." Matt. 24:23, 24.

Evidently, then, by the miracle-working power that he possesses, Satan will work mighty deceptions through both human and supernatural agencies. And the crowning deception will be his own manifestation as the Promised One, simulating Christ's second coming. But the power and glory that will fill all earth and the heavens at Christ's coming, cannot be copied by Satan, with all his miracle-working skill. That is why it is so important that we understand the Bible teaching as to the nature and manner of Christ's second advent. The doctrine of the silent, secret, mystical coming is all abroad in the world, the teaching exactly calculated to prepare the way for Satan's purposes of deception. Therefore Christ forewarns us:

"Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, He is in the desert; go not forth: behold, He is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Matt. 24:25-27.

The teachings of ancient theosophy and spiritualism—the mysticism of the East—have been permeating Christendom in recent years. Mme. Jean Delaire, writing in a London review, said some years ago:

"India has apparently still a mission to fulfil, for her thought is slowly beginning to mold the thought of Europe and of America; our keenestminds are today studying her philosophy; our New Theology is founded upon the old, old Vedanta."—National Review, September, 1908, p. 131.

This flood of ancient spiritualism from the East has come about according to Isaiah's prophecy of things that were to "come to pass in the latter days:"

"Thou hast forsaken Thy people the house of Jacob, because they are filled with customs from the East, and are soothsayers like the Philistines." Isa. 2:6, A.R.V.

In 1909 one of the leading representatives of theosophical thought, Mrs. Annie Besant, of India, toured America with the message of a coming messiah. She announced:

"My message is very simple: 'Prepare for the coming Christ.' We stand at the cradle of a new subrace, and each race or subrace has its own messiah. Hermes is followed by Zoroaster; Zoroaster by Orpheus; Orpheus by Buddha; Buddha by Christ. We now await with confidence a manifestation of the Supreme Teacher of the world, who was last manifested in Palestine. Everywhere in the West, not less than in the East, the heart of man is throbbing with the glad expectation of the new avatar."

The leaven of the spiritualistic philosophy has been working its way through Christendom during this generation. We see clearly that the evil one is preparing the way for his final work of deception.

HOME OF THE FOX FAMILY, HYDESVILLE, N.Y. Spiritualism originated in this house March 31, 1848.HOME OF THE FOX FAMILY, HYDESVILLE, N.Y.Spiritualism originated in this house March 31, 1848.

"HE IS RISEN" "Because I live, ye shall live also." John 14:19. COPYRIGHT, STANDARD PUB. CO."HE IS RISEN""Because I live, ye shall live also." John 14:19.COPYRIGHT, STANDARD PUB. CO.

MARY MEETS HER RISEN LORD "He that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." John 11:25.MARY MEETS HER RISEN LORD"He that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." John 11:25.

A wide-open door for Spiritualism is afforded by the teaching that man has life in himself—immortality by nature; and that death is not really death, but another form of life.

The Scriptures close this door of false hope, teaching us that man is mortal, that death is really death, and that immortality is the gift of God through Christ by the resurrection from the dead.

Clearly and definitely the Bible teaches that God only has immortality, styling Him "the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality." 1 Tim. 6:15, 16.

This scripture disposes of every idea that man is immortal by nature, and opens the way for a consideration of the Scripture teaching concerning man's nature, his state in death, and the promise of life and immortality in Christ.

The word "mortal," as used in that ancient question by Eliphaz, describes man's nature:

"Shall mortal man be more just than God?" Job 4:17.

In the creation, life was conditional upon the creature's relation to Christ the Creator, in whom all things consist:

"All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life." John 1:3,4.

He was, and is, as the psalmist says, "the fountain of life." Cut off from vital connection with Him, there could be no continuance of life. The Lord warned Adam that his life was conditional upon obedience. "In the day that thou eatest thereof," He said of the forbidden tree, "thou shalt surely die." Gen. 2:17. It was a declaration that man was not immortal, but was dependent upon God for life.

When by unbelief and sin man rejected God, the sentence—death eternal—must have been executed had not the plan of salvation intervened. But as the stroke of divine justice was falling upon the sinner, the Son of God interposed Himself and received the blow. "He was bruised for our iniquities." In the divine plan, the great sacrifice for man was as sure then as when, later, it was actually made on Calvary. Christ was "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."

And there Adam, the sinner, now with a fallen human nature, which would be perpetuated in his descendants in all subsequent time, was granted an extension of life, every moment of which, whether for him or for his posterity, was the purchase of Christ by His own death, in order that in this time of probation man might find forgiveness of sin and assurance of life to come. Adam was not created immortal, but was placed on probation, and had he continued faithful, the gift of immortality must have been given him at some later time, after he had passed the test. As the original plan is carried out through Christ, "the second Adam," the gift of immortality is bestowed finally upon all who passthe test of the judgment and are found in Christ, in whom alone is life.

Having fallen, Adam, now possessed of a sinful nature, must die. "The wages of sin is death." Rom. 6:23. It was impossible that sin or sinners should be immortalized in God's universe. So, inasmuch as the tree of life in Eden had been made the channel of continuance of life to man, the Lord said:

"Now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever: therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden." Gen. 3:22, 23.

This negatives the idea that there could ever be an immortal sinner, who should mar God's creation forever. Sin works out nothing but death. "Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." James 1:15. Fallen himself, Adam could bequeath to his posterity only a fallen, mortal nature. So began the sad history summed up in the text:

"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Rom. 5:12.

Mortality is written upon all creation. Ages ago the wise man wrote, "There is one event unto all: ... they go to the dead." Eccl. 9:3. Human hearts everywhere and in all time have cried out against the remorselessness of the great enemy. "Do people die with you?" was the question met by Livingstone in the untraveled wilds of Africa. "Have you no charm against death?" The Greek as well as the barbarian confessed to the helplessness of man before the great enemy. Centuries before Christ, Sophocles the Athenian wrote:

"Wonders are many! and none is there greater than man, whoSteers his ship over the sea, driven on by the south wind,Cleaving the threatening swell of the waters around him."He captures the gay-hearted birds; he entangles adroitlyCreatures that live on the land and the brood of the ocean,Spreading his well-woven nets. Man full of devices!"Speech and swift thought free as wind, the building of cities;Shelters to ward off the arrows of rain, and to temperSharp-biting frost—all these hath he taught himself. SurelyStratagem hath he for all that comes! Never the futureFinds him resourceless! Deftly he combats grievous diseases,Oft from their grip doth he free himself. Death alone vainly—Vainly he seeks to escape; 'gainst death he is helpless."—Chorus from Antigone.

"Wonders are many! and none is there greater than man, whoSteers his ship over the sea, driven on by the south wind,Cleaving the threatening swell of the waters around him.

"He captures the gay-hearted birds; he entangles adroitlyCreatures that live on the land and the brood of the ocean,Spreading his well-woven nets. Man full of devices!

"Speech and swift thought free as wind, the building of cities;Shelters to ward off the arrows of rain, and to temperSharp-biting frost—all these hath he taught himself. SurelyStratagem hath he for all that comes! Never the futureFinds him resourceless! Deftly he combats grievous diseases,Oft from their grip doth he free himself. Death alone vainly—Vainly he seeks to escape; 'gainst death he is helpless."

—Chorus from Antigone.

What unspeakable pathos in the cry of humanity's helplessness before death, the great enemy! But when Adam went out of Eden, it was with the assurance of life from the dead through the promised Seed, if faithful. It is the message of the one gospel for all time—everlasting life in Christ.

JESUS RAISING THE SON OF THE WIDOW OF NAIN "The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6:23.JESUS RAISING THE SON OF THE WIDOW OF NAIN"The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6:23.

"God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16.

As there is none other name under heaven by which men can be saved, so there is no other way of everlasting life or immortality, save in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Christ said, "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." John 11:25.

He has turned death, that would have been eternal, into a little time of sleep, from which he will awaken the believer. In the resurrection of the last day immortality is bestowed, "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." 1 Cor. 15:52-54.

"There is a blessed hope,More precious and more brightThan all the joyless mockeryThe world esteems delight."There is a lovely starThat lights the darkest gloom,And sheds a peaceful radiance o'erThe prospects of the tomb."

"There is a blessed hope,More precious and more brightThan all the joyless mockeryThe world esteems delight.

"There is a lovely starThat lights the darkest gloom,And sheds a peaceful radiance o'erThe prospects of the tomb."

Not until the resurrection, "at the last trump," is immortality conferred upon the redeemed. Note that it is not something immortal putting on immortality; but this "mortal" puts on immortality. Mark this: there is no life after death, save by the resurrection. "If there be no resurrection of the dead,... then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished." 1 Cor. 15:13-18.

This resurrection, as stated by the apostle Paul, is not at death, but in the last day, when Christ shall come, and all His children that are in their graves shall hear His voice. Jesus says:

"This is the will of Him that sent Me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day." John 6:40.

That is why the coming of Christ has been the "blessed hope" of all the ages.

Between death and the resurrection, the dead sleep. Jesus declares that death is a sleep. Lazarus was dead, but Jesus said, "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth." John 11:11. It is the language of Inspiration throughout. The patriarch Job said:

"Man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up: so man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more [the heavens will be rolled back as a scroll at Christ's coming], they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep." Job 14:10-12.

This hope of the resurrection at the last day was no indistinct hope to the believer in God's promises. The patriarch continued:

"If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: Thou wilt have a desire to the work of Thine hands." Verses 14, 15.

Job tells us of the place of his waiting for the Life-giver's call: "If I wait, the grave is mine house." Job 17:13. It is thence that Christ will call His own when He comes. "The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth." John 5:28, 29.

Death is an unconscious sleep. It must of necessity be so; for death is the opposite of life. Therefore there is no consciousness of the passing of time to those who sleep in the grave. It is as if the eyes closed in death one instant, and the next instant, to the believer's consciousness, he awakens to hear the animating voice of Jesus calling him to glad immortality, and to see the angels catching up his loved ones to meet Jesus in the air.

These scriptures, out of many, will suffice to show that man is not conscious in death:

"His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." Ps. 146:4.

"The living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything.... Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun." Eccl. 9:5, 6.

Death is a sleep, which will continue until the resurrection. Then the Lord will bring forth from the dust the same person who was laid away in death.

Some have said that this Bible doctrine of the sleep of the dead until the resurrection is a gloomy one. Popular tradition thinks of the blessed dead as going at once to heaven, which, say some, is a beautiful thought. But they forget that the same teaching consigns their unbelieving friends to immediate torment—and that, too, while awaiting the judgment of the last day.

No; the Bible teaching is the cheering doctrine, the "blessed hope." All the faithful of all the ages are going into the kingdom together. This blessed truth appeals to the spirit that loves to wait and share joys and good things with loved ones. Of the faithful of past ages the apostle says:

"These all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." Heb. 11:39, 40.

They are waiting, that all together the saved may enter in. And the time of waiting is but an instant to those who "sleep in Jesus."

David was a man of God, but the apostle Peter, speaking by the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, declared to the people of the city of David: "He is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day.... For David is not ascended into the heavens." Acts 2:29-34. They without us have not been made perfect. They are all awaitingthat glad day toward which the apostle Paul turned the last look of his mortal vision:

"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." 2 Tim. 4:7, 8.

What joy in that day to march in through the gates into the eternal city, with Adam, and Abel, and Noah, and Abraham, and Paul, and all the faithful, and the loved ones of our own home circles, and dear comrades in service, every one clothed with immortality, the gift of God in Christ Jesus our Redeemer! Horatius Bonar's hymn sings the joyful hope as the loved are laid away to "sleep in Jesus:"

"Softly within that peaceful resting placeWe lay their wearied limbs, and bid the clayPress lightly on them till the night be past,And the far east give note of coming day."The shout is heard, the Archangel's voice goes forth;The trumpet sounds, the dead awake and sing;The living put on glory; one glad band,They hasten up to meet their coming King."

"Softly within that peaceful resting placeWe lay their wearied limbs, and bid the clayPress lightly on them till the night be past,And the far east give note of coming day.

"The shout is heard, the Archangel's voice goes forth;The trumpet sounds, the dead awake and sing;The living put on glory; one glad band,They hasten up to meet their coming King."

In a word, the Scripture teaches that God alone has immortality, that man is mortal, that death is a sleep, that life after death comes only by the resurrection of the last day, that the righteous are then given immortality. Further, the Scripture teaches that later there will be a resurrection of the unjust, not unto life, but unto death, the second death, from which there is no release.

Every doctrine of Scripture and of the gospel is in accord with this Bible teaching as to man's nature and his state in death. But the traditional view of the natural immortality of the soul and of life in death, nullifies the Bible doctrines of life only in Christ, and the resurrection, and the judgment, and the giving of rewards at Christ's coming, and the final judgment upon the wicked and its execution.

1. The "Living Soul"

Says one, "Did not the Lord put into man an immortal soul?"

No; the Scripture says:

"The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Gen. 2:7.

The soul was not put into the man, but when the life-giving breath was breathed into his nostrils, the man himself became a living soul, a living being. The ordinary version (King James) gives "a living soul" in the margin of Gen. 1:30, showing that the same expression is used of all the animal creation in the Hebrew text. The famous Methodist commentator, Dr. Adam Clarke, says on this phrase, "living soul:"

"A general term to express all creatures endued with animal life, in any of its infinitely varied gradations."

2. Are "Soul" and "Spirit" Deathless?

"Are not the soul and spirit said to be deathless?" questions another.

No. One writer says of the Scriptural use of the words "soul" and "spirit:"

"The Hebrew and Greek words from which they are translated, occur in the Bible, as we have seen, seventeen hundred times. Surely, once at least in that long list we shall be told that the soul is immortal, if this is its high prerogative. Seventeen hundred times we inquire if the soul is once said to be immortal, or the spirit deathless. And the invariable and overwhelming response we meet is,Not once!"—"Here and Hereafter" by U. Smith, p. 65.

On the contrary, the Lord declares, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Eze. 18:20. It means that the person who sins shall die; for the words "soul," "mind," "heart," and "spirit" are used to express life or the seat of the affections or of the intellect. One may commend his soul to God, or hisspirit to God (really his life into the keeping of God), until the great day of the resurrection. The word "soul" is used of all animal life in New Testament usage, as well as in the Old; as, "Every living soul died in the sea." Rev. 16:3.

3. The Thief on the Cross

"Did not Christ promise the thief on the cross that he would be with Him that day in Paradise?"

No; for Paradise is where God's throne is, and the tree of life, and the city of God, the capital of Christ's kingdom; and three days later Christ had not yet ascended to the Father. "Touch Me not," He said to Mary after His resurrection; "for I am not yet ascended to My Father." John 20:17. The dying thief, therefore, was not with Him in Paradise three days before.

Nor did the thief's question suggest such a thought. His faith grasped Christ's resurrection, the resurrection of His children, and the coming kingdom; and that day on the cross, in the moment of the deepest humiliation of the Son of God, the repentant sinner cried, "Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom." And the Saviour replied, "Verily I say unto thee today"—this day, when the world scoffs and the darkness presses upon Me, this day I say it—"shalt thou be with Me in Paradise." Luke 23:42, 43.

The punctuation that makes it read, "Today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise," is not a part of the sacred text, and puts the Saviour's promise in contradiction with the facts of the whole narrative and the teaching of Scripture.

4. The Rich Man and Lazarus

"Then there is the parable of the rich man and Lazarus," one says, "where Lazarus and Dives are talking, though dead—Lazarus in Abraham's bosom and the rich man in torment."

But that is a parable; and no one can set the figures of a parable against the facts of positive Scripture. In parables, lessons are often taught by figurative language and imaginaryscenes which could never be real, though the lesson is emphasized the more forcefully.

In the parable of Judges 9, the trees are represented as holding a council and talking with one another. No one mistakes the lesson of the parable, or supposes that the trees actually talked. So in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the lesson is taught that uprightness in this life, even though under deepest poverty, will be rewarded in the future life; while uncharitable selfishness will surely bring one to ruin and destruction.

In the face of the Bible teaching, no one can turn this parable into actual narrative, representing that the saved in glory are now looking over the battlements of heaven and talking with the lost writhing before their eyes in agony amid the flames of unending torment. This is not the picture that the Scriptures give us of heaven, nor of the state of the dead, nor of the time and circumstances of the final rewards or punishments.

From an inscription on an Egyptian monument, representing the weighing of a soul after death.From an inscription on an Egyptian monument, representing the weighing of a soul after death.

LOT FLEEING FROM SODOM "Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them ... are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." Jude 7.LOT FLEEING FROM SODOM"Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them ... are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." Jude 7.

SATAN'S FINAL ASSAULT UPON THE KINGDOM OF GOD "They went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about." Rev. 20:9SATAN'S FINAL ASSAULT UPON THE KINGDOM OF GOD"They went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about." Rev. 20:9

So soon as ever Lucifer introduced sin into heaven, it was certain, in the righteousness and omnipotence of God, that the day would come when sin would be blotted out of the perfect creation. Inspiration tells us that a time of final reckoning with sin was assured when Satan and a host of the angels with him lifted up the standard of mysterious rebellion against the law and harmony of heaven:

"The angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." Jude 6.

Punishment for sin is assured. By listening to Satan's temptation, man became involved in sin. Then a divine Saviour was provided, through whom every soul might escape from the kingdom of darkness, and find salvation and life. But it is inevitable that those who refuse the way oflife and reject the salvation of God, must finally be involved with Satan and sin in the day when sin is visited.

By Adam's sin, all his posterity inherited a sinful, dying nature. "In Adam all die," the Scripture says. But not a soul in the last day can plead Adam's sin and the inheritance of a fallen nature as an excuse for his own transgressions. By Christ's gift of His life for us, the sinner, with all his weaknesses, may become a partaker of the divine nature, and escape the power of the fleshly nature. By virtue of Christ's death for all, all recover from the death they die in Adam—the first death. All have a resurrection, the unjust as well as the just; and then every one gives account of himself to God, according to his own life and the use he has made of the light given him of God.

The Scriptures emphasize the fact that there are to be two resurrections. Paul, before Felix, declared his belief the same as that of all the prophets,—"that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust." Acts 24:15.

Jesus declared it in these words:

"The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." John 5:28, 29.

The first resurrection is that of the just, at Christ's second coming. It is written of this:

"Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years." Rev. 20:6.

After this, the righteous return with Christ to heaven, and remain there during the thousand years. The wicked living at the time of His coming are slain by the consuming glory of His presence; and they, with all the unjust of all theages, await in the grave the second resurrection, at the end of the thousand years.

"The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished." Rev. 20:5.

At the end of the thousand years the city of God, with the saved, comes down out of heaven and settles upon the earth.

Then the wicked are raised—the second resurrection. Under Satan's leadership they march up to attack the city of God. How naturally, we infer, may Satan persuade the lost that, after all, he was right when he declared to Adam, "Ye shall not surely die." Here are all his servants of all the ages—living. Why may they not be immortal, beyond the power of God to destroy? The old battle that began in heaven is on again. Satan, the archrebel, marshals his hosts of fallen angels and the myriads of fallen men, his legions stretching wide over the earth.

"They went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them." Rev. 20:9.

"This is the second death," the Scripture says. Verse 14. The great day has come when the sinner receives his wages—death—and sin is destroyed.

"The wages of sin is death." And the second death is everlasting. There is no resurrection from this death. The Scriptures describe it in terms that affirm utter destruction, resulting in nonexistence.

"Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." 2 Thess. 1:9.

"Behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lordof hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." Mal. 4:1.

"They shall be ashes," the third verse of this chapter says. Every expression possible to language is employed to denote utter destruction, everlasting death. That means nonexistence. Sin and sinners are blotted out. The prophet Obadiah, speaking of the visitation upon the heathen—the unbelieving—in "the day of the Lord," says:

"They shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been." Verse 16.

This is the utter end of sin and all sinners, and of the author of sin. Root and branch they are gone, "as though they had not been." All this is in the description of the last judgment, so fully set forth in the twentieth chapter of Revelation.

"Death and hell [hades, the grave] were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death." Rev. 20:14. Death and the prison house of death are gone forever. Sin is wiped out of a perfect universe, and not even a trace will remain of the place of the fiery judgment.

"Yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be." Ps. 37:10.

The fires of the last day purify the earth, which comes forth in Eden-like beauty. In the whole creation of God there is no sin, no sinner, but all is harmonious again, as before sin entered the universe. The prophet was given a view of this glorious consummation, and the triumph of the Son of God over sin.

"Every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever." Rev. 5:13.

The doctrine of the immortality, the indestructibility, of the soul is responsible for the traditional view that the wicked are kept alive in unending misery through all eternity. How different this picture from that which Holy Scripture gives of the second death! Terrible and awful it is, but it results in the utter destruction of sin and sinners, leaving a clean universe. The doctrine of the immortality of the soul came in from pagan philosophy. Herodotus, "the father of history," said:

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